New Jersey·Office and Administrative Support Occupations·SOC 43-4161

Best Human Resources Assistant programs in New Jersey, ranked by enrollment

Compile and keep personnel records. Record data for each employee, such as address, weekly earnings, absences, amount of sales or production, supervisory reports, and date of and reason for termination.

13 schools in New Jersey run programs that feed this job, graduating 370 people a year. The job pays a median of $54,410 in New Jersey across about 4,000 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledPersonnel ClerkHuman Resources Assistant (HR Assistant)Human Resources Associate (HR Associate)Human Resources Administrative Assistant (HR Administrative Assistant)Benefits ClerkContract ClerkAssignment ClerkEmployment Clerk
Graduates / yr
370
in New Jersey
Median pay · New Jersey
$54,410
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
4,000
people employed
Schools
13
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
53%
across those schools
Median net price
$27,376
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New Jersey that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in New Jersey that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New Jersey (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New Jersey page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1355
95.9%
8$49,084$26,536
211
3.0%
2$49,084$26,536
34
1.1%
3$25,993$9,500

Top 13 schools in New Jersey

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 13 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
265Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$49,44184%58%
2Rowan University
Glassboro, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
37Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$47,98367%78%
3Thomas Edison State University
Trenton, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
25Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$53,382
4Montclair State University
Montclair, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
19Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General65%88%
5Seton Hall University
South Orange, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
7Human Resources Management and Services, Other$52,28569%$27,37673%
6Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Human Resources Management and Services, Other87%$34,82748%
7Strayer University - New Jersey
Piscataway, NJ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General0%
8Mercer County Community College
West Windsor, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
2Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General25%
9Rutgers University - Camden
Camden, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
2Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$49,44167%66%
10Saint Peter's University
Jersey City, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General58%$14,44090%
11Salem Community College
Carneys Point, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General40%
12UCNJ Union College of Union County, New Jersey
Cranford, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General35%
13William Paterson University of New Jersey
Wayne, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General44%90%

All 13 schools in New Jersey

Every school in New Jersey with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in New Jersey that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Rutgers University - New BrunswickNew BrunswickPublic2651
Rowan UniversityGlassboroPublic371
Thomas Edison State UniversityTrentonPublic251
Montclair State UniversityMontclairPublic191
Seton Hall UniversitySouth OrangePrivate not-for-profit71
Stevens Institute of TechnologyHobokenPrivate not-for-profit41
Strayer University - New JerseyPiscatawayPrivate for-profit41
Mercer County Community CollegeWest WindsorPublic21
Rutgers University - CamdenCamdenPublic21
Saint Peter's UniversityJersey CityPrivate not-for-profit21
Salem Community CollegeCarneys PointPublic11
UCNJ Union College of Union County, New JerseyCranfordPublic11
William Paterson University of New JerseyWaynePublic11

What human resources assistants earn in New Jersey

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in New Jersey
$54,410
Mean annual
$54,620
Jobs in state
4,000
What the range looks like
10th pct$39,280Median$54,41090th pct$68,010
Versus the national median
+7.5%

U.S. median $50,610. New Jersey pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.61×

Concentrated here: New Jersey employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in New Jersey

Trenton-Princeton, NJ
$52,320median
270 jobs
Vineland, NJ
$52,790median
60 jobs
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ
$50,630median
120 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-7.1%
Decline
Openings per year
9,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-6,800
95,200 → 88,400
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Human Resources Assistants page.

How to become a Human Resources Assistant

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningSpeakingWritingMonitoringCritical Thinking

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in New Jersey

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 4 majors mapped to Human Resources Assistants4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.0401Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, General
  • 52.0407Business/Office Automation/Technology/Data Entry
  • 52.1001Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General
  • 52.1099Human Resources Management and Services, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing human resources assistants programs in New Jersey.

What degree do you need to become a Human Resources Assistant?+

Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General, which awarded 355 degrees in New Jersey in 2024-25, 95.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Human Resources Assistant?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Human Resources Management and Services, Business Operations Support and Assistant Services. Together they graduate about 370 people a year in New Jersey.

How much do human resources assistants earn in New Jersey?+

The median is $54,410 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.5% above the U.S. median of $50,610. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for human resources assistants growing?+

BLS projects a -7.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 9,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in New Jersey?+

13 institutions in New Jersey reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do human resources assistants work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Personnel Clerk, Human Resources Assistant (HR Assistant), Human Resources Associate (HR Associate), Human Resources Administrative Assistant (HR Administrative Assistant) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 43-4161.

Human Resources Assistants in other statesArizonaCaliforniaUtahIdahoTexasMinnesotaColoradoGeorgia

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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